Will There Ever Be An Agreement Between Mugabe and Tsvangirai?

It has been over a month since ZANU-PF and MDC signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) where the parties agreed to talks to reach a solution on the Zimbabwe situation. As of yet no resolution has been reached and the parties are very much at logger heads. As the cartoon depicts (courtesy of newzimbabwe.com) you have two people wanting to be in control and steering in opposite directions with the only outcome in such a situation being a stall. A stall is exactly what has come of the talks as both parties try to figure out how much power Mugabe or Tsvangirai will have in a unity government. On one hand you have got Mugabe who does not want to and will not let go power and on the other you have Tsvangirai who wants complete power and Mugabe out of the picture.

Tsvangirai was reportedly offered a Prime ministerial role with Mugabe remaining as President. He refused to sign the document stating that it left him “without adequate authority to engineer economic recovery and overcome repression”. One of his main concerns with the Role of Prime Minister document was paragraph two which states that he would be a Member of Cabinet and its Deputy Chairperson (Click here to read the Role of Prime Minister Document) which leaves Mugabe as the head of cabinet (Click here to read an extract from the Constitution of Zimbabwe outlining the role of the President) and basically an overall say in matters of the state.

The impasse between the ZANU-PF and MDC has not stopped the political process in Zimbabwe as Parliament is set to open on August 26 even though under the MoU was not meant to happen until an agreement had been reached. Mugabe was reportedly also given the green light to convene parliament by SADC. This move raises a few eyebrows because it seems as if SADC is leaning more towards a government that is headed by Mugabe.

Whilst Tsvangirai is protesting this move he is slowly getting sidelined once again as parliament opens and on top of that Mugabe has appointed ministers and governors, some of whom lost their seats during the March elections. Many in the West are crying foul over the decision to convene parliament before an agreement has been reached but this will do nothing to stop Mugabe going ahead with his plans. Mugabe is not a stupid man and is doing what it takes to keep in power and it was only earlier in the year that he said MDC would never rule Zimbabwe.

Chances are Tsvangirai will not get anything better than what he is being offered at the moment, not as long as Mugabe is at the helm. If he does not wake up soon he will be sidelined as has been the case since he started trying to remove Mugabe from office. ZANU-PF and possibly other MDC members will move on and continue to rule the country however they see fit and continue to ignore Tsvangirai’s cries for freedom. In this case is it better to have a deal or no deal at all?